1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technical field of an information output apparatus and an information output method, an information recording apparatus and an information recording method, an information output recording system and an information output recording method, and an information recording medium. More particularly it relates to the information output apparatus and the information output method for outputting recording information to be recorded into a recording medium such as audio information or video information, together with copy control information for restricting the number of copying after its recording, the information recording apparatus and the information recording method for recording the output recording information and copy control information into the recording medium, the information output recording system and the information output recording method including both the above information output apparatus and information recording apparatus, and an information recording medium with such an information output control program or information recording control program recorded there.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, receiving the audio information and the like, which is to be distributed through the Internet, by a personal computer (hereinafter, referred to as a PC simply) connected to the Internet and recording it in a recording medium such as a semiconductor memory and the like has been done.
Recently, as the development of image compression technique and high-density recording technique, it is becoming possible to record one piece of movie and the like distributed though the Internet, into a recording medium of large capacity, for example, a DVD (an optical disk having the capacity several times as large as that of the conventional CD (Compact Disc)).
In the above-mentioned distribution of the audio information and the like, how to protect a copyright on the audio information and the like is a problem. From this viewpoint, it is under study that the copy control information indicating that only one copy is permitted (namely, only copying the distributed audio information and the like into the recording medium is permitted) is distributed at the time distributing of the audio information and the like, together with the audio information and the like, the copy control information is recognized in the PC, and that the recording information received according to the above control information is recorded into the recording medium.
Further, in order to secure the copyright effectively, it is under study that the content of the distributed copy control information indicating that only one copy is permitted is rewritten to the content indicating that copying thereafter is prohibited, hence to be recorded into the recording medium at the time of recording the audio information and the like into the recording medium.
Recently, in addition to the audio information, movie information is going to be distributed. This movie information, however, has extravagant data, and there arises a demand for speedy distribution.
However, according to the above-mentioned conventional audio information distributing and recording system, it is necessary to recognize the copy control information and update it (overwrite it with new one or add new one to it) at the recording time thereof. Accordingly, if the same method is adopted to the case of movie information, the movie information and the like cannot be recorded into a recording medium at a high speed, which disturbs the speedy distribution.
If a priority is given to the speedy distribution, the copy control information cannot be recognized and updated (overwritten or added) at the time of recording it into a recording medium, which results in recording the copy control information as it was distributed. Accordingly, after the recording it into the recording medium, the recoding information can be copied into the recording medium at least once more, thereby failing in the protection of the copyright.
Further, if the speedy recognition and update of the copy control information is pursued, the cost of the information recording apparatus will be increased.